海鹽比食用鹽更健康嗎？

If you've been inside a grocery store in the past couple of years, you've probably noticed the trend in food manufacturers adding "Made with sea sAlt" to their product packaging. The claim shows up on a wide variety of foods - from organic whole grain pretzels, to mixed nuts, to "American deli cheese product."

Clearly the food industry has decided salt from the sea is a major selling point. But why? Is it better for us than plain old table salt?

"Sea salt gets a health halo, and people are using a lot more of it," said Alissa Rumsey, a registered dietitian at NY-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "The most significant difference is the texture."

Sea salts are coarser and grainier than table salt because the former undergo less processing than the latter, Rumsey said. Sea salts are made from evaporated sea water. Table salt, on the other hand, usually comes from underground salt mines and is processed into finer crystals. (Fun fact: If you're a sea salt fanatic and are confident your local seawaters aren’t polluted, you can make your own.)

The less-processed aspect of sea salt may be appealing, but both types of salt have the same basic nutritional value, Rumsey said.

“With some foods, less processing does equal healthier,” like whole grains versus refined grains, she said. “But I wouldn’t say sea salt is healthier than table salt.

“A teaspoon of table salt is finer, so it has more sodium by volume. But technically by weight they contain the same percentage of sodium — about 40 percent."

Table salt is usually fortified with iodine, a practice that's been around since the early 20th century.

Sea salt may retain some other minerals depending on the water source - but generally not enough to make a difference in your diet.

"Sea salt does have a small amount of trace minerals, but it's really too small to offer much benefit," Rumsey said. "We get those minerals in other forms from our food."

One thing sea salt doesn't have is added iodine, which you'll often see noted on its label. Table salt has been fortified with iodine since the early 20th century as a way to get more of the essential mineral into Americans' diets. These days, Rumsey said, most Americans get plenty of iodine in their diets — so you shouldn't worry about using sea salt instead if you like its texture and crunch.

The most important thing to remember: Sea salt is still salt, and you shouldn't consume too much of it.

"I tell people that whatever salt you do decide to use, to do so sparingly," Rumsey said — and that goes for the sodium content in packaged foods, too. Aim for less than 2300 mg, or less than 1500 mg if you are over age 51 or have health concerns such as high blood pressure, diabetes or kidney disease.在過去幾年裏，你也許會在雜貨店中發現這樣一種趨勢，越來越多食品加工商在產品包裝袋印上了“添加海鹽”的標識。從有機全麥椒鹽捲到什錦堅果，再到美國熟食奶酪產品。

顯然食品行業認爲海鹽是主要的賣點。可這是爲什麼？它真的比平常的食鹽好嗎？

紐約－長老會醫院和威爾康奈爾醫療中心的註冊營養師艾麗薩·拉姆齊說：“海鹽戴上了健康的光環，比起以前人們更多地使用海鹽。它們最主要的差別在於質地。”

拉姆齊說，比起食鹽海鹽更粗大有更多顆粒，因爲它沒有經過那麼多加工。海鹽是蒸發海水提煉出的。食鹽則一般從地下鹽礦開採出來，在加工成更細小的晶體。（有趣的是，如果你是海鹽“粉”，同時又確信周圍的海水未被污染，你可以自己生產海鹽。）

因爲經歷更少加工，海鹽可能更有吸引力，但兩種鹽都有同樣的基本營養價值。拉姆齊補充道。

“對於某些食物，加工程序少確實更健康。”比如全穀物和精製穀物相比。“但我不認爲海鹽比食鹽健康。”她說。

“一茶匙食鹽顆粒更小，所以比一茶匙海鹽含更多鈉。但嚴格來講，重量等同時，二者含有的鈉所佔百分比相同，大約百分之四十。”

從20世紀早期開始，食鹽中一般都添加碘。

海鹽根據海水來源的不同也會含有不同的礦物，但通常量很少不會對飲食造成影響。

拉姆齊說：“海鹽中確實有少量的微量礦物質，但太少了不會給人體帶來明顯的益處。我們從其他形式的食物中獲取這些礦物質。”

海鹽沒有添加碘，它的標籤上也會標明。20世紀初，美國開始在食鹽中添加碘好讓人們能更多地獲取這種人體必需的礦物質。拉姆齊表示，如今大多數美國人的飲食中已經補充了足夠的碘，所以用如果喜歡海鹽的質感和口感，用海鹽來代替食鹽的話也不用擔心。

最重要的是要記住，海鹽也是鹽，不能吃太多。

“我會告訴人們，不管食用哪種鹽都不要多。”拉姆齊說。對於包裝食品的鈉含量也是一樣，要控制在2300毫克以內。如果年齡在51歲以上或有高血壓，糖尿病或腎病等健康方面的擔心，則要控制在1500毫克以內。